A portable toilet installed behind a downtown church points to a larger problem of homelessness and the lack of public accommodations in the city.
“I do want to be clear that the portable toilet is a Band-Aid on a gushing wound of a problem, right?” said the Rev. Eileen Casey-Campbell, who is the minister at First Universalist Church of Rochester at South Clinton Avenue and Court Street.
The problem is one cities are struggling with nationwide. Seattle recently committed $465,000 on expand public restroom access in its trendy — and touristy — Pioneer Square neighborhood. In Portland, Oregon, the City Council this month approved $1 million for public bathrooms, free laundry and tent waste collection services.
Here in Rochester, the Universalist Church has found a lack of public facilities resulting in passersby and the homeless using the church property, its small park area and shielded alcoves as an emergency bathroom, particularly in warmer months.
"This is not a solution to the problem,” Casey-Campbell said of the portable toilet. “And even 24-hour bathroom access downtown is not a solution to the problem. Housing is a solution to the problem. But in the midst of the problem, we still think that the people deserve to have some privacy and dignity.”
Public bathrooms downtown at the library, on Parcel 5, and at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park are closed overnight. The Universalist Church, nearby St. Mary’s Church and the neighborhood association have been lobbying the city since at least 2023 to keep those facilities open.
The church put out a news release on Wednesday, announcing it had placed a portable toiled behind its historic building, as it did initially last fall — and blamed inaction by the city.
The city responded with a statement that it was “surprised” by the public announcement, and that it remains a willing partner working to connect the church with possible resources. City officials, though, put that collaboration at less than a year. And noted that while the city "works to help coordinate multiple partners to address the challenges of homelessness in Rochester, the city is not funded for nor is it in a position to solve our homelessness issues alone.”
The latest point-in-time count of homeless in the Rochester area was released this week showing the number of unhoused at its highest point in more than a decade — rising from 73 last year to 92 this year. This despite an overall decrease in the estimated total number of homeless, which was reportedly 859 individuals.
“As a congregation we really want the folks who are sleeping in the park, who are sleeping in our alcove, who don't have housing, to have a place where they can be a human and have some dignity,” Casey-Campbell said. “Where they have a private place to use a bathroom. And also .... we would like for the rest of our neighbors to care about this, too. “
She added: “We have a pretty good relationship with most of the folks who are sleeping on our property or in the park, and a lot of them come in for coffee on Sunday mornings, and we know them by name. There are positive relationships there.”
And there are many reasons people choose not to seek shelter, beyond limited bed space.
Some can’t go to a shelter without risk of their bike or cart and all their possessions being lost or stolen because they can't take them inside, said Casey-Campbell. Others are with a group including multiple genders that would need to split up. Others have a fear of shelters, she continued, because of past bad experiences of abuse or violence.
